Paul Matthews started reading The stories of Ibis by Hiroshi Yamamoto
The stories of Ibis by Hiroshi Yamamoto
In a world where humans are a minority and androids have created their own civilization, a wandering storyteller meets the …
Zunshine draws on a range of classic international literature to illustrate the history and development of intersubjectivity (levels of 'embedment' of mental states) in the novel. I enjoyed the way in which better known examples were mixed in with the lesser known or overlooked, and the way she used examples which ostensibly had no embedding to illustrate how it can be cleverly implicit (eg between the author and reader as much as between characters).
I got a bit bogged down in the chapter considering examples from ancient Chinese novels, perhaps as it takes extra effort to interpret her reading of the cognitive aspects of a story. But really enjoyed the final chapter on children's lit about the interesting questions it raises - for instance, is it better to spell out the psychological aspects of a plot or let the child figure them out on their own?
